Established in 1821 the University of Buenos Aires or UBA stands as a beacon of knowledge in Argentina. The UBA has shaped the nation’s intellectual and political landscape. It has been a cradle for leaders and thinkers.
The University of Buenos Aires has a rich history. Unlike other major cities in Spanish Colonial Americas, Buenos Aires didn’t have its own university during colonial times. The push for a university strengthened after Argentina’s Declaration of Independence in 1816. Governor Martín Rodríguez officially founded the UBA on August 12, 1821. Antonio Sáenz became its first Rector.
In its early years the UBA faced conflicts. There were clashes between those favoring a laicist approach and those defending a traditional religious approach to education. Existing institutions merged into the university to ensure high standards. Courses from the Consulate of Buenos Aires the Military Medical Institute and the Colegio de la Unión del Sud were integrated. Law professors also joined from the Academia de Jurisprudencia. This allowed the UBA to offer medicine and law degrees right from the start.
Free access to the UBA was once suspended. This occurred during the rule of caudillo Juan Manuel de Rosas. Budget cuts threatened the Department of Exact Sciences. However, the situation improved after Rosas’s fall in 1852. The government prioritized the university seeing higher education as vital for the country’s stability.
The UBA expanded significantly. The Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires was established in 1863. The Escuela Superior de Comercio followed in 1890. In 1869 the first twelve Argentine engineers graduated. They became known as the Twelve Apostles. By 1909 the UBA had created faculties of Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences.
The federalization of Buenos Aires in 1881 made the UBA dependent on the national state. During the Generation of ’80, the UBA made great strides in scientific research. The 1880s also marked the graduation of the UBA’s first women ÉLida Passo and Cecilia Grierson.
The University Reform of 1918 was a pivotal moment. Students protested for university autonomy democratic governance and open contests for teaching positions. The reform allowed universities to manage their own budgets and define their curricula. This granted the UBA co-governed democratically elected institutions.
However the UBA’s autonomy was suspended during Juan Domingo Perón’s presidency. Yet Perón’s government made public universities free of cost in 1949. This expanded access to higher education.
Repression marked later periods. The dictatorship of Juan Carlos Onganía intervened in universities. The Night of the Long Batons in 1966 saw state authorities violently remove students and professors. Hundreds were fired or exiled. Later Isabel Perón appointed Alberto Ottalagano as interventor. He launched a campaign against leftist sympathizers.
Democracy returned in 1983. The UBA re-established its autonomy. In 1985 the Ciclo Básico Común was created to equalize opportunities for all students.
Today the University of Buenos Aires is made up of thirteen self-governing faculties. It manages the Ciclo Básico Común. The UBA’s facilities are spread throughout Buenos Aires. The Ciudad Universitaria is its closest thing to a centralized campus.
The QS World University Rankings ranked the UBA 66th in the world in 2021. The UBA has educated seventeen Argentine presidents and produced four Nobel Prize laureates. Alumni include Ernesto “Che” Guevara and many prominent figures in law medicine business and science.
The UBA operates Radio Universidad de Buenos Aires. Its motto is “Knowledge is in the air”. The University of Buenos Aires remains a vital institution. It continues to shape Argentina’s future.